Gilad Atzmon

Monday, 28 September 2009

Gilad Atzmon

A few days ago, the celebrated Israeli jazz musician Gilad Atzmon came to visit Bradistan. I wasn’t that familiar with him before – I had read his Wikipedia entry and heard a few tracks on Myspace – but I knew I had to meet him. Like myself, he is a strident anti-Zionist and his music attempts to blur the boundaries between music and politics. It was an interesting day to say the least.

At lunchtime, Gilad was presenting a workshop on the “Discourse of Resistance” at the Tasmin Little Music Centre in Bradistan University. I had never been to this place before but I was greeted very warmly by the artistic director Mark Hadyn Robinson. I was very impressed by the centre’s open-minded musical policies and its’ willingness to embrace a multitude of different musical forms. The workshop was a very intimate affair with just 4 guests (alongside Mark) – a Norwegian trombonist, an English composer, myself and my wife. Therefore, it felt very much like a private session and we were free to interject, ask questions or debate various points of that Gilad made.

Gilad is a powerful orator and also a slightly larger than life personality. The bulk of what he spoke about has been previously published as “The Primacy Of The Ear”. I would urge you to read this very interesting personal account as it is best explained in Gilad’s own words. Born to an extreme Zionist family (imagine having Tzipi Livni as your cousin, anyone?), Gilad spoke movingly about growing up in Israel, his first musical epiphany (hearing Charlie Parker on the radio) and his conscription into the Israeli Air Force. During his two years military service, he fought in the barbaric Israeli invasion of Lebanon in 1982 and saw with his own eyes the cruelness and horrific behaviour of the Israeli military first-hand. He grew to detest Israel and everything it stood for, and when his military service was over, he quickly left the country and started the process of establishing a new life for himself. This eventually resulted, some years later, in his moving to London, studying philosophy and becoming a British citizen. Nowadays, he is regarded as the greatest jazz artist in the UK and has worked with some of the world’s most important musical figures including Paul McCartney.

The two hours that the workshop lasted were very intense and the time went by in a flash. When it was called to a halt, I felt like we had only just begun and that we could have easily continued for a number of hours. There was an enormous amount to take in, especially Gilad’s very interesting perspectives on Zionism and international politics and I felt I needed some time to process these in my own mind, chew them over and let the dust settle.

Everyone present contributed to the discussion, sometimes agreeing or even disagreeing. I particularly enjoyed Gilad’s descriptions of how he initially attempted to understand Arab music as I had experienced so many similar experiences myself. After the event he happily agreed to pose for a few pictures and I said I would meet him later that day at his concert (with a pile of hastily burned CDs of Arab music that I promised I would bring for him).

And so a few hours later, it was to the Alhambra Studio to witness Gilad and his Orient House Ensemble in concert. I had heard that he was brilliant to see live and I was not disappointed. The three other members of his band demonstrated a very high level of musical pedigree, in particular the baby-faced 22 year old young black drummer. His contribution to the performance was outstanding.

The first half of the gig was pretty deep. Kicking off with the emotional “Autumn in Baghdad”, by the time the second number (“Burning Bush”) came to an end I felt like I had gone through a fairly intense personal experience. However, rather than continuously ratcheting up the pressure, in the second half, Gilad delivered a lighter selection of tunes, resulting in the concert being beautifully balanced. The credit crunch number “A Nightingale Sang In Barclays Bank” was wonderfully absurd and melodies from kiddies’ nursery rhymes were woven into the dense sound.

A very surreal moment took place during one song. Gilad left the stage after performing his solo and came over to where I was sitting. He shook my hand, sat down and said “you alright?”. After pleasantries were exchanged he proceeded to discuss the (superb) acoustics of the venue and asked me for my opinions on a couple of sonic matters. It was a bizarre few minutes and something that wouldn’t usually be witnessed in the middle of a gig. But this was no ordinary jazz gig. The band were casually dressed in jeans, it was very informal, and had none of the stiffness that you often see at such concerts. Gilad also spoke with a lot of humour, occasionally taking the piss out of himself and his associates.

The encore was an unexpected delight. Gilad stated that they were going to play a song by the greatest Palestine composer.....Louis Armstrong! Dedicating it to the war criminals Tony Blair, George Bush and Benyamin Netanyahu, he said that without these people, it could indeed be a "wonderful world". Then we were given a tender and quite beautiful rendition of this popular standard and it was a perfect way to end the concert.

Afterwards I gave the promised CDs to Gilad, he appeared to be intrigued by them and I was pleased that he didn’t know any of the titles. He very kindly gave me a couple of his CDs and then we said goodnight.

As people, we interact with thousands of others in our lifetime. Some come into our lives just for a second, others for a certain period of time, and a small number stay with us for the long haul. A few influence or inspire us and a few we are repulsed by. Very little actually make any type of meaningful impact. The short time I spent in the company of Gilad Atzmon I will always regard as something quite special. He speaks, plays and acts from the heart with a refreshing honesty and opinion that is very rare in this bland, manufactured musical landscape that is all around us. There is only one, and can only be one Gilad Atzmon, but we need more people like him, that’s for sure.